To roll or not to roll? That is the question..

For Marcus's 11th birthday we went to the roller rink. Now keep in mind that I haven't rolled on roller skates since I was in elementary school ( and I was a darned good roller skater, too!), but I was still very excited to get those skates on and re-live some of my pre-pubescent memories. The minute I walked into the rink I immediately got hit with the smells of my past: stinky feet, stale popcorn and Bonne Belle lip gloss. Ahhh, the memories came flooding back! The rink looked exactly like the one my mom used to take me to, it even had the disco ball hanging from the ceiling. I couldn't wait to get started.

I took Ethan to the skate stop to get our skates, and they're just as ugly as I remember them, although now that I'm older my skate size has grown proportionately, and I'm not spending as much time scamming the crowd for the cutest boys. We get our skates on and I hop on up and start skating like I never stopped ( it's like riding a bike, you never really forget how to do it), but unfortunately for Ethan he wasn't so lucky. He was excited to go skating, but I don't think he realized just how hard it would be to have wheels on his feet. He and I hobbled out to the rink, where I made him swear that if he fell that he wouldn't grab onto me and take me down with him! I did the first few rounds of the rink with him as he white-knuckled the walls and kept a slow snail pace. He gave it a good try, I admit that if I had been him I would have given up a lot earlier. I think I rolled around the rim with him about 3 times before I left him to his own devices. When I was rolling I felt so free, it was such a good feeling. Hearing the loud music pumping, the lights going out and the disco ball glowing. If I closed my eyes I was 11 years old again. It was great.

Ethan gave it about an hour before he gave up. He was full of sweat and close to tears near the end. The final straw came when he fell and landed on his 'funny bone', so that pretty much sealed the deal. He gave up and went to the arcade and left me on the rink to skate with the other kids. It was so much fun, and great exercise, too. If we get a chance to go again I'll definitely want to skate again, but Ethan will probably pass it up. He's not too good with wheels on his feet.